CTO - AI-native optical design platform (Paraxial) jobs in United States
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Pioneer Square Labs · 1 month ago

CTO - AI-native optical design platform (Paraxial)

positionSeattle
timeFull-time
remoteOnsite
seniorityDirector/Executive

Pioneersquarelabs is building the first AI-native optical design platform, a modern successor to legacy tools. They are seeking a Chief Technology Officer to lead the technical vision, architect the platform, and grow the engineering organization.

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Responsibilities

The end-to-end architecture of Paraxial’s early product
Technical decisions across backend, orchestration, data modeling, optimization workflows, and early simulation integration
Rapid prototyping of core workflows (spec → model → optimization → results)
Interfaces to external engines (ZOS-API or alternatives) and, eventually, modernized high-performance cores
Early LLM integration workflows
Development of reproducibility, logging, and correctness foundations
Engineering culture, documentation, and hiring the first technical team
Long-term decisions on HPC, GPU, ML, and CAD infrastructure — selecting the right tools for the job rather than adhering to a specific stack

Qualification

System designSimulation-heavy workflowsC++PythonCUDAGPU librariesML frameworksOptimizationBias toward shippingCuriosityClear communication

Required

Senior/principal-level engineer with deep experience building zero-to-one products in technically complex domains
Strong command over system design across backend, compute, and data layers
Building and shipping simulation-heavy or data-intensive workflows
Working with performance-sensitive code, whether in C++, Python, or another modern language
Choosing and integrating the right technology (C++, Python, CUDA, GPU libraries, ML frameworks, rendering engines, etc.) based on constraints
Architecting pipelines that involve optimization, numerical analysis, or scientific computation
Writing pragmatic, reliable code while moving quickly
Ability to independently deliver a working product slice in weeks, not quarters
Strong intuition for glueing together APIs, LLMs, numerical code, and UI
Clear communication with non-software domain experts
Bias toward shipping, learning, and iterating
Comfort owning ambiguous, open-ended problem spaces

Preferred

Experience with simulation, rendering, robotics, AV, computational physics, or optimization
Exposure to ray tracing, geometric optics, or optical system design
Experience working in AR/VR, imaging, or any hardware-adjacent industry

Company

Pioneer Square Labs

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Pioneer Square Labs is a studio that creates and launches technology startups.
dateFounded in 2015
location
Seattle, Washington, USA
people-size11-50 employees
web-link
http://www.pioneersquarelabs.com

Funding

Current Stage
Growth Stage
Total Funding
$27.5M
Key Investors
Foundry Group
2018-01-18Series B· $15M
2015-10-01Series A· $12.5M
2015-09-29Series A

Leadership Team

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Greg Gottesman
Managing Director, Co-Founder
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Palvi Mehta
Partner and CFO
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